More pupils ‘reading for pleasure’

Increasing numbers of UK schoolchildren are choosing to read in their spare time, with six in 10 having a favourite work of fiction, research suggests.

The National Literacy Trust questioned some 32,000 pupils aged eight to 18.
Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid was the most mentioned favourite work of fiction, followed byThe Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

Children are not only reading more fiction but also a wide variety of other materials, including:

websites

emails

texts

comics

non-fiction

manuals

song lyrics

poems

However, the research also suggests a persistent gender gap between girls and boys, with 46.5% of girls saying they read daily outside class, compared with 35.8% of boys.

Girls were also more likely to say they enjoyed reading very much or quite a lot: 61.6%, compared with 47.1% of boys.

Overall, more than half (55.2%) of children said they preferred watching television to reading, and almost a quarter (24.3%) believed their parents did not care if they spent time reading, rising to 31.5% among children on free school meals.

Trust director Jonathan Douglas described the survey as “encouraging” but said it was a “real concern that almost a third of the most disadvantaged children think their parents do not care whether they read”.

Children were reading a variety of different materials, including emails and texts
Ms Blackman called for work to continue “to ensure all our children develop the reading-for-pleasure habit to improve their life chances” and said it was vital children had access to libraries “to fulfil their true potential”.

War Horse author Michael Morpurgo said: “How good it is to have some heartening news about young readers.

“But much is still to be done. Too many boys still seem disinterested in reading, and far, far too many children simply never become readers at all.

“So we writers and illustrators and storytellers, and parents and teachers, and publishers and booksellers, must continue to play our part.

“And government too should remember that literacy must first and foremost be enjoyed if we are to engage our most reluctant readers.”